ISO Quality Services January 2015 Newsletter

Congratulations to our Newly Certificated Clients

Nexus Vehicle Management Limited

Situated in Leeds and celebrating its 15th year, Nexus Vehicle Management Limited is the leading provider of corporate vehicle rental in the UK.

On Wednesday 10th December 2014, Nexus Vehicle Management Limited were presented with their ISO 27001 Information Security Standard Certificate.

They are a customer focused business that offers both long and short-term hire from over 1,750 rental locations.

If you would like more information regarding the services that they provide, please visit their website at www.nexusrental.co.uk or telephone them on 0871 984 1919.

DMG Office Supplies Limited

A London based company, DMG Office Supplies Limited provide high standard office supplies and printing.

On Tuesday 16th December 2014, DMG Office Supplies Limited were presented with their ISO 9001 Quality Management & ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard Certificates.

Founded by a team with a wealth of experience in the office supplies and print industry, they aim to be a one stop shop for all your needs.

For more information, please visit them at www.dmgoffice.co.uk or alternatively, you can ring them on 0203 096 2008.

Lead Assessor Rick Allard (left) presenting Operations Manager Jim Gowing (right) of DMG Office Supplies Limited being presented with their ISO 9001 Quality & ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Certificates.

Payzone UK Limited

Formed in 1989 and situated in Northwich, Payzone UK Limited and is a British branded, leading consumer payments acceptance network.

On Tuesday 16th December 2014, Payzone UK Limited were presented with their ISO 27001 Information Security Management Certificate.

Payzone UK limited offer services in 2 key areas; the accepting of payments on behalf of its customers and card acceptance terminals in small to medium sized businesses.

If you are interested in finding out more about Payzone UK Limited, you can either visit their website at www.payzone.co.uk or contact them via telephone on 0844 2090 555.

Lead Assessor Percy Beynon (middle) presenting Phil Jelley, IT Technical and Operations Manager (left), and Chris Hill, Senior Technical Team Member (right) of Payzone UK Limited with their ISO 27001 Information Security Management System Certificate.

RCA Regeneration Limited

Established in 2009, RCA Regeneration Limited is a planning, development and regeneration consultancy based in Worcestershire but operating nationwide.

On Wednesday 17th December 2014, RCA Regeneration Limited were presented with their ISO 9001 Certificate.

As well as being Chartered Town Planners, they are also Chartered Surveyors and, therefore, can provide a holistic service from the inception to the delivery of a development project.

Further details regarding the services they provide can be found at www.rcaregeneration.co.uk. Alternatively, they can be contacted on 01905 887 686 or info@rcaregeneration.co.uk.

Senior Lead Assessor Peter O’Neill (left) presenting Robert Csondor (right) Director of RCA Regeneration Limited with their ISO 9001 Quality Management System Certificate.

ABP (London) Investments Limited

ABP (London) Investments Limited is a company formed in 2003 that specialise in large scale property development.

Also on Wednesday 17th December 2014, ABP (London) Investments Limited were presented with their ISO 9001 Certificate.

ABP has extensive experience in delivering business ports such as the one being built in London’s Royal Docks.

For more information about ABP and their services, visit their website at http://abp-london.co.uk/ or telephone them on 084 5504 8981.

Lead Assessor Rick Allard (left) presenting HR/Office Manager Richard Chan of ABP (London) Investment Limited with their ISO 9001 Quality Management System Certificate.

Majority back new ISO 14001 revision

The upcoming revision of the ISO 14001 standard has been welcomed by more than 90% of environment and sustainability professionals.

The international ISO 14001 standard outlines how to put an effective environmental management system in place. It is designed to help businesses remain commercially successful without overlooking environmental responsibilities.

Changes to ISO 14001, which are expected to come into force in 2015, will see the standard integrated into core business processes, along with an extra focus on leadership, top management and communicational performance.

There had been significant growth in the number of ISO 14001 environmental management system certificates at the end of 2013, up 6% on the previous year to 301,647.

Of course if you are a current client ISO Quality Services will advise you regarding the alterations to the standard and be there to assist you in every way which we can. It must be noted that once the new version of any standard has been released, those companies running the standard will have 3 years to comply with the new criteria.

Source: Edie

How much do you earn?

Although it is something that employers do not wish you to talk about, many employees discuss how much they earn amongst each other and this can cause serious problems for the employer.

It is understandable that everybody wants to be paid a fair value for the work they undertake  and as a result of this there have been numerous high profile equal pay claims and these can result in a large pay out for the employer if found to be guilty.

The most notable claims at present are ones being levied against Asda. Asda are currently subject to tribunal claims from employees who feel they are being paid differently from their colleagues for the same kind of work. In this case it has been supermarket workers who felt they are getting paid less than their equivalent within the distribution centres. It has led to them questioning whether it is because the distribution centres are predominantly male whereas the supermarkets are predominantly female.

If these tribunal claims are successful, it could result in the employees claiming up to 6 years in back pay.

Source: Thursfields

Are your best employees looking to leave?

According to a recent study by, 1 out of 5 workers were planning to leave their job in 2014.

Analysing the data, it is clear to see that even though wanting a higher salary is the biggest reason (66%) why respondents said they were dissatisfied, they were just as likely to highlight their displeasure at not feeling valued.

Here are the other most frequently cited reasons for leaving a job in 2014: –

• Job dissatisfaction — 54%;
• No growth — 45%;
• Work-life balance — 39%;
• Underemployed — 39%;
• Stress — 39%;
• Don’t like boss — 37%.

Ways to mitigate the risk of departures

You can’t give everyone a 50% salary raise, but there are many inexpensive ways to mitigate the risk of people leaving:

• Recognise and appreciate employees.
• Find out what drives your staff.
• Ensure that those who wish to progress can see a clear career path ahead of them.
• Maintain communication regarding the future of the company.
• Understand where and why people are stressed or overloaded.
• Take a hard look at your managers and supervisors.

A huge 20% of employees say they plan to leave their job this year.

Are you giving them a good reason to stay?

Source: TLNT

Obama calls for stricter data privacy laws

As the US president Barack Obama admits that the USA data privacy laws are not adequate, unveils new proposals on how to protect privacy laws, here are some worrying facts that may prove him right:

• More than 70% of people would reveal their computer password for a bar of chocolate,
• 33% said they shared passwords or wrote them down
• 60% of small businesses had a security breach in the past year
• £65k – £115k is the average cost to a small business of its worst security breach of the year

An interesting statistic is that 70% of companies where security policy was poorly understood had staff-related breaches versus 41% where the policy was well understood. This therefore highlights the reasons as to why the ISO 27001 Information Security Standard is successful, or even why staff training is equally important. Both of which ISO Quality Services can assist you with.

Source of figures: Department for Business Innovation & Skills

How hygienic is your workplace?

A new survey that has been conducted has found that 48% of employees felt that the level of hygiene in their workplace was of poor quality. Moreover, 88% of those surveyed said that poor workplace hygiene impacted upon their productivity.

At this time of year it’s more important than ever that viruses are kept to a minimum.

Last year, a quarter of small businesses saw an increase in their employee absence levels which can have a serious impact on the smaller firms where it’s all hands on deck.

It is widely known that sneezing and coughing can easily spread these viral illnesses but so can the sharing of workplace objects such as keyboards, phones, doorknobs and taps.

There are however measures that can be taken so as to limit the spread of these illnesses, the first of which is simply washing your hands. This should be carried out:

• Before and after using the bathroom;
• Before eating or preparing food; and
• After sneezing, coughing or blowing their nose.

Furthermore, the cleaning on office equipment with antibacterial wipes and the provision of hand gels can help this cause further.

Finally three more actions that can be taken are to insist on the following:

• There is a constant supply of soap in the bathrooms;
• Dirty cups, glasses and plates are quickly washed properly; and
• Your workplace is cleaned regularly and thoroughly.

Source: Sage

High Employee Morale = High Customer Satisfaction

Did you know that whether they consciously know it or not, customers can tell whether they are happy in their work and that this impacts on customer satisfaction?  A happy employee is more likely to greet customers with a smile and go the extra mile in service efforts whenever possible.

Therefore boosting employee morale is very important. Here are five tips for doing just this:

Empower Your Employees – Being able to make good decisions for their customers in regards to policies and procedures will mean they will meet customer challenges more willingly.

Provide Clear Training – An employee who is well trained in their job will not have to worry about making bad decisions or handling irritated customers incorrectly.

Offer Rewards – If you can acknowledge employees for going to extra mile, especially in front of their fellow employees then they are more likely to do so. Everyone likes to know they are doing a good job!

Listen to Your Team – You might be surprised by the standard of improvements suggested on top of the fact employees will appreciate being listened to and in turn feel happier in the workplace.

Lead by Example – If senior management are not ‘practicing what they preach’ in terms of providing good customer service and going the extra mile then employees are less likely to follow suit.

Happy staff and satisfied customers are the key to any successful business. Taking the time to ensure employee happiness will have a major impact upon customer satisfaction.

Source: Unitiv

 ISO Training Services Update

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE TRAINING DEPARTMENT!

We are pleased to offer the following courses for the beginning of 2015!

ISO 27001: INFORMATION SECURITY TRAINING

Dates: 28^th/29^th January 2015 (2 day course)

Cost:   £450 + VAT per delegate

Why attend this course?

No information security management system can achieve its potential unless the underlying principles are understood, supported by management and become part of a company’s normal operating procedure.

This course will address the main principles and elements involved when adopting the ISO 27001 standard and provide a foundation for companies who are interested in using the standard as the mainstay for their information security approach.

You will gain an understanding of:

• categorising and mitigating risk
• scoping and maintaining an Information Security Management System
• asset management
• setting up security governance and associated roles involved

Course Content

• Principles and elements of ISO 27001
• Role of the information security management representative
• How to establish information security governance within your organisation
• Asset management – how to complete an inventory
• Completion of risk assessments
• Statement of applicability
• Document requirements

There will also be a chance for a questions and answers at the end of each session with a recap at the end of the day.

ISO 9001: QUALITY MANAGER TRAINING

Dates: 26^th February 2015

Cost:   £295 + VAT per delegate

I have lots of questions; is this course right for me?

Have you recently implemented ISO 9001; are you new to the standard or are you not sure if ISO 9001 is for you? Then this is an excellent introduction for anyone involved in the development, implementation and management of ISO 9001.

This training course is designed to help your organisation demonstrate commitment to quality and customer satisfaction, as well as continuously improving your quality management systems (QMS).

Our friendly trainers will help you overcome any reservations you might have and enable you to understand the requirements of the standard, help you to improve your management processes and prepare your business for growth.

And finally it’ll provide an overview of the purpose and requirements of ISO 9001 as a tool for business improvement.

Course Content

Quality Manager training will cover the following topics, as well as allowing for question & answer sessions on the day:

• Principles and elements of ISO 9001
• Role of the Quality Manager
• How to integrate ISO into the daily activities of the business
• Effective objective setting
• How to run a Management Review Meeting effectively
• Guide to internal auditing
• Focus on bench marking and its importance to quality management
• Continuous improvement

TENDERING PROCESS TRAINING

Date:   3^rd March 2015

Cost:   £350 + VAT per delegate

Why attend this course?

With an increasing number of opportunities being awarded through a tender process, having the right knowledge and skills and making sure you are “fit to bid” has never been so important. So, how do you ensure that the process works for you and that you can put together a compelling bid and win more business?

This engaging one-day course has been developed to provide you with that knowledge, to help you build an effective bidding plan. It enables delegates to gain a thorough understanding of the tender process and in so doing to help them to make headway in removing much of the pain and chance commonly felt amongst organisations when they compete for business via a tender.

Key topics covered

• Who uses the tender process and why – a public and private sector buyer perspective
• How does the public procurement process work
• Expectations of the buyer at the various stages of the process and the implications on the bidder
• Mandatory, desirable and functional elements to be included in a bid
• Avoiding pitfalls and risks when selling via a tender process
• Proactive tender submissions
• Win or lose, what next?
• Public procurement terminology

Sounds interesting? Want to know more?

For further details of each course and others that we offer, we have a dedicated training website www.isotrainingservicesltd.com where all of our training information, courses and dates will be available, along with case studies, news articles and Meet the Trainer!

Please take the time to visit us!

To book your place please call 01905 670303 or email our Training Co-ordinator debbie@isoqsltd.com

REMEMBER IF YOU ARE A CURRENT CLIENT OF ISO QUALITY SERVICES YOU ARE ENTITLED TO A DISCOUNT ON ALL OUR COURSES…PLEASE CONTACT US FOR MORE DETAILS

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